First annual Global Collaboration Day hopes to connect every school

Daylong event focuses on classroom collaboration in a globalized world

Mark your calendars — this September 17 schools around the world are going international for Global Collaboration Day, a first-of-its-kind event designed to raise awareness about the merits of participating in projects that cross borders.

In addition to a handful of PD sessions for educators, there will be opportunities for mystery Skype calls, special Twitter chats, an international discussion conducted via WhatsApp, and a Q&A with a judge centered around the U.S. Constitution. (An updating calendar of events, arranged by time zone, is available online).

The daylong event series is the brainchild of Steve Hargadon and Lucy Gray, who run the annual Global Education Conference, a traditional online conference which takes place in November.

Global Collaboration Day, by contrast, has no central online hub where all events are hosted, as a conference might. Instead, individual educators and partner organizations will organize their own sessions using any online medium they choose, leading to a diverse roster of collaborative opportunities.

Right now, Gray is busying herself with outreach to the global network she’s built up around her conference — a network that reaches more than 20,000 educators in 150 countries. And while she’s hoping educators reserve a slot on their calendars and participate in an event, she’s also looking for hosts who will help organize their own events with a partner school, preferably abroad. “It could be a survey, a Hangout on Air — whatever they’re comfortable with,” she said.

This spring Hargadon and Gray will also add a leadership summit, a two-day online event aimed at school administrators and other education thought leaders around the question: How do we globalize schools?

“The difference is that the November event is very inclusive. Anyone can present,” Gray says about the flagship Global Education Conference. “We accept those presentations to give everyone a chance to show their work. In the spring, it’s going to be handpicked speakers that are going to benefit a leadership audience.”